


Come Away

by Edie_Sunshine



Series: Just Two Guys [10]
Category: Sons of Anarchy
Genre: Dysfunctional Family, Established Relationship, Family Drama, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Meet the Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-31
Updated: 2012-12-31
Packaged: 2017-11-23 03:15:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/617465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Edie_Sunshine/pseuds/Edie_Sunshine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Family angst for Chibs.</p><p>Title comes from an Ani Difranco song- lyrics in the notes.</p><p>Beta'd by the marvellous Spacebabe:0)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Come Away

The phone call comes in the dead of night, the time when you always answer your phone and it's never good news. 

Chibs leans over Juice to pick the house phone up off the carpet and growls into it. He grunts, says 'hold on' and then takes it into the bathroom, closes the door and whatever else he says recedes to a gentle murmur. 

Juice lies there drowsing and when Chibs returns to put the phone back, he ghosts his fingers over the back of the older man's hand.

'Hey man, you okay?'

'Aye' Chibs presses a kiss to his forehead before turning to leave, 'Go back to sleep.'

As fucking if.

It's always cold in Chibs' house and when he gets out of bed, Juice has to stumble around looking for sweatpants and a hoodie. He finds the other man outside in the yard. Bottle, smokes, lighter: looks like he's set for the night. 

Juice goes back in, pulls on a pair of socks and grabs the comforter from off the bed. He sits on the step behind Chibs, wraps it around them both and rests his chin on his shoulder,

'Your kid?'

'Nah, nothing like that... Just my sister.' 

His sister? 

Chibs doesn't really talk about his family much. Juice knows the guy has a kid sister, that his parents split when he was twelve and his mother took him with her back to Ireland.  
He knows that he doesn't really get on with his dad, but then, who the fuck gets on with their old man, right?

Chibs is quiet for a bit longer, catches one of Juice's hands in his own and rubs some warmth into it, and Juice just wraps the duvet more tightly around them both, cuddles him closer.

'I gotta go home,' Chibs says into the darkness.

&&&

'He alright?' 

Jax steps out of the clubhouse to where Juice is watching Chibs across the parking lot at Teller Morrow. He lights a cigarette and seats himself on the little table and chair set they've got set up there. Chibs came to see him that morning, told him he needed to go back to Scotland for a few days. 

Juice shrugs.

'He's not said much... Just, it's his dad...Doesn't have long to...' 

Jax nods absently, 'You goin' with?'

'Me? Uh... I don't think so, I mean, he's not said anything...'

'You should go with him. If he ain't thinkin' straight, he needs someone to watch his back, keep him outta trouble.'

'Scotland's not like Belfast was...'

'Different kind of trouble,' Jax says and stubs his cigarette out, goes back inside and leaves Juice to mull it over. 

 

The Scot has been quiet, distant since that phone call. Like he's disappeared inside himself and left Juice alone on the outside. Juice has no idea how to get to wherever it is that Chibs is right now. 

Later, while the rest of the guys are sitting around drinking, He pulls up a map of the UK on his laptop, finds Belfast over the Irish Sea and then Scotland at the top of the triangle shape that forms the UK. Apart from the five days they all spent in Belfast, trying to find Jax's son, Juice has never left the US. The thought of a plane ride and a new country is kinda weird, like it might be good but the truth of it is it isn't a vacation. Who knows what Chibbie's family are really like. No one moves this far away from a family they like...

Chibs doesn't return to Juice's house with him that night, he stays at the clubhouse, tight in conversation with Happy. Juice thinks to go over there, drop a hint. He's tired and all he wants is just to curl himself around the other man, take his mind off his troubles. 

'Hey, give him some time kid,' Tig murmurs and steers him away just as one of the Friday night regular girls goes over to stake her claim. She rests her head on Chibs' shoulder and he drapes an arm around her, whispers something in her ear that makes her giggle. Juice thinks okay, well, do what you gotta, and leaves for home.

&&&

He wakes up early, to the sound of of his cell phone. Chibs' name flashes up on the screen.

'Hey,' he hears what he assumes is Chibs exhaling a lungful of smoke into the air and sits back in his bed.

'Hey... Look, Jax thought it'd be a good idea for me to take someone with me...Watch my back an' that...'

'You asking me?' 

It occurs to Juice that Chibs might prefer to take someone else, Tig or Jax, even Bobby or Hap. It gives him an unsettled feeling, like he's not enough.

'Yeah... that okay with you, Juicy?'

'Yeah. Yeah sure, just... Sure I'll be enough? I mean, I don't-'

'Juicy, shut up and pack, yeah? We're flying out tonight, staying about a week, maybe longer... Shorter if he's like he was the last time...'

&&&

Flights are boring. And long. And even though Juice isn't particularly tall, the seats are cramped. He can't get comfortable, can't sleep. Their seats are a row apart because of the late booking, so Juice can't even pass the time chatting shit. From where he's sitting though, he can see that Chibs is hitting the Scotch pretty hard. 

He doesn't know much about what to expect. 

He knows that Chibs' folks split and reconciled countless times when he was growing up, that his mom moved back to Glasgow a few years back and stuck with his dad this time. 

He knows that Chibs' little sister is called Frankie, that she's got an ex husband and a kid. 

He knows that the scar on Chibs' hip that looks like a belt buckle is exactly that, the indentation from his father's belt and that he got it for losing his sister on the way home from the chip shop when he was eight. She'd been brought home by social services and his dad had gone nuts. 

He knows that Chibs' Da is a drinker, and that they've not seen each other in years. Even though he knows almost all of what Jimmy O did to Chibs, Juice can't imagine anyone being able to crush him, the guy always seems too savvy, too jaded. The thought of Chibs as a kid getting smacked about by his old man is just weird.

And the sight of Chibs, brooding and worrying over going home again is equally strange. Juice keeps expecting the older man to suddenly shrug and laugh, make some joke about it, but he doesn't. 

&&&

Heathrow is cold and grey, utterly desolate. They take a domestic flight up to Edinburgh and then a train to Glasgow. Juice pulls the hood on his jacket up and wishes he'd thought to pack those stupid long underwear things Chibs keeps in the bottom of his closet. 

Glasgow looks kinda cool- old buildings and wide streets. He'd like to look around.

'You really grew up here?' he asks and Chibs snorts.

'Not here, further out-' he gestures far away to the north east but Juice has no idea where he means. 

They catch a bus from outside the train station and the tired looking old people coo over his accent. 

'Red Road?'

'Yeah. It's gotta load of tenement buildings. They're on about pulling them down but... Mam an' Da've got a flat there, my sister's a few floors down... Look...' 

Chibs pulls off the beanie hat he's had pulled low over his ears, strangles and chokes it.

'This is gonna be fuckin' horrible, alright? Frankie's tearing her hair out dealing with 'em both an...' he pinches the bridge of his nose and says no more, just looks out the window. Juice is left to put the rest together with no fucking information at all. 

It's raining when they reach their stop. Juice pulls his kit bag up onto his shoulder, fights with his hood. He can't remember the last time he was warm. 

Chibs barely seems to notice the cold or the wet, just gestures to a path leading between two tenement buildings. The wind, unhindered by anything but the high buildings, just whips itself into a frenzy, knocks the two of them back as they struggle against it. 

There's a little row of tatty looking stores to one side, a crappy kiddie playground on the other. Kids in sweats and hoodies, hanging around looking pinched and old. Place looks like every poor neighbourhood Juice has ever known. Uglier than Queens even, it looks like fucking Baltimore...

Chibs ducks in close to the intercom and rattles something off rapid fire. A woman's voice answers and Juice has no fucking idea what she says either but the door is buzzed open and they step into the foyer.

Chibs' parent's apartment is on the thirtieth floor and his sister's on the seventeenth. Juice prays that the elevator's working. 

It is. 

It stinks of piss. 

Elevators always stink of piss.

'Hey, Chibby, what'd you tell 'em about me?' 

Chibs shrugs, his face is like granite: his game face. 

'I didn't.'

'You- Well, what are they gonna think? I mean, it's not-'

'Can think what they like,' Chibs says. 'Used to thinkin' the worst of me.' 

The woman who answers the door peers wordlessly around the chain and when she realises who it is, greets her older brother with a simple 'How yeh?' She answers his hug with a one sided one of her own, beckons them both inside and down a long narrow hallway to the kitchen.

Frankie Telford is tiny and waspish. She was probably never pretty, more striking than anything but now her face is sallow and sour, drawn with exhaustion. 

She looks nothing like Chibs. 

She glances at Juice when they're introduced and shakes his hand, tells her brother she wasn't expecting him to have anyone with him.

'Look, if it's a problem, we can go to a hotel or something.' 

'No, no, it's fine, just...Not at Da's eh?' 

Chibs shrugs, tucks his hands into his pockets. He looks like a giant compared to his sister. 

'Come on, give us yer bags an' I'll take 'em through...' 

There's no way Juice is letting anyone that tiny take either of their bags. He keeps hold of his, grabs Chibs' and she leads the way, calling over her shoulder for her brother to put the kettle on. She points out the front room and bathroom along the way. 

The front room isn't in the front but Juice is used to things not making sense. The TV's on and a little girl, probably about five, is lying on her belly about two feet away from it, her face rapt. 

'Zoe, this is JC. Go say how yeh t' yer Uncle Lip, will you?' 

The kid waves and then gets to her feet, wanders off down the corridor towards the kitchen. 

'No biscuits before yer tea,' Frankie calls out, then, 'In here,' she pushes open the door to a little girl's bedroom- pink walls, pink carpet, tiny pink bed. There's an airbed propped up against the wall. 

'It's not great but... Uh, Zoe's in with me...' 

'Right...'

'How was your flight, JC?' Frankie says his name like it's still a pair of initials.

'Yeah, it was good... I don't get to fly much so it was pretty... exciting.'

'Yeah... I flew once- went to Spain. Didn't like it, all that turbulence...' She gives a brief smile. It looks nervous, here and gone. 

'It's years since he was back,' she nods to the hallway, and, presumably Chibs. 'He's in for a shock when he sees Da...'

'Why? What's-'

'Cirrhosis- his liver. Not a big surprise, but...' She straightens a bunch of books on a shelf, her face pinching closed. 'They talked about a transplant... Amount he puts away though, not much point. An' it's too late for that now...'

 

&&&

They drink tea, sat in the kitchen, surrounded by racks of drying clothes.

'Dryer's on the blink again,' Frankie says, opens a packet of biscuits and tips them into a brightly coloured tin.

'One,' she says warningly to her daughter. Kid takes two. 

'I'll take a look at it before I go,' Chibs rubs one hand over his brow. His voice is low, sounds like he's had all the air squished out of his lungs.

Zoe's shy of her uncle but when Juice winks at her she grins and winks back, tells him she has a guinea pig called Roy, and that he had babies.

Juice joins her on the floor next to the little cage and eavesdrops on the grown ups.

'He has his good days,' Frankie says to Chibs. 'Yesterday wasn't so bad but today...' She gives a little shrug, it makes her look like a tiny bird.

'You said Mam wasn't coping...'

'No... Y'know what she's like... She's not... strong,'

'He still thump her?' Juice stops dead, stares up at Chibs.

'Jesus Christ, Filip, don't start-'

'Is he? If he is, he's not sick enough that I won't-' 

Frankie puts her head in her hands. 'He's not! He hasn't the strength...' She pushes her hands through her hair to leave it stringy. Juice has seen Chibs do the same thing many a time- usually when he's tired or pissed off.

'Look, how about we get a chippie supper an' watch a bit of telly- get an early night.' She puts on a smile and raises her voice when she mentions the chip shop so that little Zoe starts cheering.

'You can go up to see him tomorrow...' Frankie fixes her brother with a warning look and he knows it's not worth the effort of arguing.

 

Chibs knows there's plenty his sister's not telling him. She looks exhausted, no sign of the little blonde lass that used to turn the pissers' heads back in Northern Ireland. 

Frankie had been quick in those days, whip smart with a filthy laugh. She'd got through her Eleven Plus and into grammar school, even did her A-levels, went to Uni. 

She had a good job till all this shite with Da. 

He looks at his niece, chattering away to Juicy and he thinks, poor kid, grow up here and this place'll finish you.

'That pub still downstairs?'

'What, The Bell? Aye but...' Frankie gets that skittish look again, 'Aren't you tired- long flight...' She glances over at Juicy. 

Chibs shrugs. 'Quick drink won't hurt. Can you bring the kid down like we used to do?'

'What, so she can sit on the door step with a lemonade an' some crisps? Christ, Lip, I'm not raisin' her like we were brought up...' she gets up abruptly, takes the mugs to the sink. She stands there a long moment, hands braced on the edge of the counter, pulling her head together like Mam always does, then she turns around.

'Look, don't go down there the night, eh? Just... leave it be.' 

Chibs knows what she's hiding, gets to his feet.

'He's there isn't he? He's in the fuckin' pub! Jesus! I've come all this way, thinkin' he's dyin' and the old bastard's drinking it up with his mates!'

 

Little Zoe stares up in amazement. Hardly surprising, Chibs has a powerful yell on him. Juice suggests they take Roy into the other room, maybe watch some TV and Frankie shoots him a grateful look, closes the kitchen door softly behind them. 

Over the burbling of some kids show with puppets and adults who talk with stupid voices, Juice can hear Chibs arguing with his sister in the next room. 

He wonders, should he go in there, try to break it up or is this the kind of thing it's better to just leave- like him and his sister Jojo: usually they're fine but sometimes they just gotta fight and then they'll be okay again. 

Jojo can take Juice in a fight, though- she fights in a cage for a living. Frankie doesn't look like she could take on a fly...

Zoe presses one little finger down hard on the volume of the remote control and the burbling drowns them out. Juice remembers doing the same thing when he was a kid.

He isn't sure who won the argument but they don't go down to the pub that evening. Instead, they all troop down to the chippie, Zoe chattering incomprehensibly and insisting on holding Juice's hand instead of her Mom's. Chibs and Frankie walk on ahead, Chibs' head lowered like he's listening hard to what she's saying. They both seem calmer now their fight is over. 

Maybe it is what they needed. 

After dark, the neighbourhood doesn't look any friendlier. The kids in hoodies are hanging around souped up cars, smoking and laughing. Frankie warns Zoe to stay close but no one gives them any hassle. 

Juice watches Zoe, lets her chatter on while Frankie and Chibs go inside the chip shop, return ten minute later with warm, sweaty packages wrapped in white paper. 

They sit on a bench outside to eat, the fish hot and crisp, thick fries greasy and quickly cooling. Zoe complains that she'd wanted fish like the rest of them and Frankie reminds her that she doesn't like the bones and to just get on an' eat her savaloy.

Juice is licking the grease off his fingers when Chibs drops another package into his lap.

'What the hell's this?' 

'Try it an' see,' Chibs grins and its like he's almost back to himself.

'Go on,' Frankie says. 'It's good, promise,' it doesn't look good: deep fried, oblong shaped- probably just more fish. 

Juice rolls his eyes, takes a bite,

'What the... wow!' Inside the crispy batter shell, gooey chocolate, caramel and something else.

'Local specialty,' Frankie says. 'Deep fried Mars bar.'

'More Scotch than Haggis, that,' says Chibs, grins at Juice's stunned expression and tugs his hood up around his ears.

'That is... Is that even legal? It shouldn't be, it should be like...' 

'Can see why the average Glaswegian doesn't live beyond fifty, can't you?' Frankie laughs. She kicks her brother's ankle though and it dawns on Juice that Chibs isn't even forty yet but if his sister thinks he's not going to live beyond another decade... Jesus! He feels that nasty little flutter in his belly again, the one that tells him he's almost thinking about things he won't like.

They drink horrible lager beer from the liquor store on the way back to the apartment. Juice hates it when you can taste the beer can. Frankie makes her brother drink half of hers and then pours Ribena into the rest of it, swirls it around. She says nothing when Chibs drinks four cans without breaking a sweat, but her eyes go watchful and sharp.

'Ach, come on, sis. No way I'm gonna get any sleep on that fucking air bed otherwise...' 

Frankie shrugs. 'Sound just like Da,' she mutters as she collects the empty cans.

'Zo, come on, time for bed.'

&&&

The air bed's horrible to sleep on. Each time one of them moves, it makes a crumpling sound that ripples from one side to the other and with two of them on it, the air doesn't last long. Juice feels the ground under his ass at about five in the morning but he's too tired to get up and get the pump out again. Next to him, Chibs shifts, groans and blinks up at the ceiling.

They're gonna go upstairs to see Chibs' parents today. 

Juice has this sinking, dreading feeling in his belly. He doesn't think Chibs is feeling any better about it either...

&&&

Juice gets out of the shower to find the house quiet, Zoe being walked to school by her mother. Chibs sits quietly at the kitchen table with a smoke and a cup of tea. 

Just like normal, really. 

Juice finds some instant coffee in the cupboard, brushes a kiss over the other man's head as he makes his way to the kettle and Chibs barely stirs.

'You nervous?' he asks, now that they're alone. 

Chibs gives an irritated looking shrug, stubs his cigarette out. 'Nah, it's fine.' He uses one foot to push a chair out for Juice to sit in, watches him take his first mouthful of caffeine. 

Juice wishes he'd put more sugar in it, can't be bothered to get up again, rubs his hands over his head instead, wonders if there's anything to eat.

'Hold on,' Chibs gets up, starts opening cupboards. 'There's bread if you want toast or.... Ugh Christ, she still eating this shite...?' He scowls at a packet with a picture of a yellow monster on it. 'Here, you'll probably like these....'

'Sugar Puffs? Yeah man!' Juice takes the packet and bowl Chibs passes him, waits for the milk. 'I loved these when I was a kid... we never had them very often though...' He tucks in and Chibs just sighs and chuckles to himself.

'I'm nervous,' Juice says later, when he's finished all the Sugar Puffs and is about to drink the remaining milk straight out of his bowl. 

'I mean, I know it's not a... thing but still... I mean, I remember what your sister said last night. I could just stay here an'...'

'What for? Look, Juicy, I don't know what kind of mess he's gonna be in. He might not even wanna see me so...'

'So, why rock the boat, right? This is a family time, you should just be here with your family-'

'I am.' Chibs arms fold and his lips settle in that way of his that means he's done discussing it and Juice knows better than to press him.

'Okay, then just... Look, I'm just a buddy from the States, right?'

'Yeah,' Chibs says softly, one hand reaching out to cup the back of Juice's neck, just below the mohican, the bit that makes Juice's knees turn to water. He leans forward and kisses him there too and Juice raises one hand to hold him there. Normally when they wake up, there's morning sex and today there wasn't and won't be. Juice's skin is itchy with disappointment. 

'Just my buddy from the states...' Chibs sounds like Juice feels. The front door slams and they have to pull apart.

'You ready?' Frankie has as good a game face as any Son. Stood there with her hands in the pockets of her denim jacket she looks as mighty as she is tiny. 

Chibs necks the last of his tea and dumps the mug into the sink.

'Aye.'

'I ate your Sugar Puffs,' Juice confesses, 'I'll get you some more-'

'Ach, yer alright... Come on, let's get this over with.'

The elevator ride up to Chibs' parents flat is spent in silence. Chibs has his hands in his pockets and he watches the floor numbers with dispassionate eyes. Anyone else would probably think he doesn't care about any of this but Juice knows him better than that, suspects Frankie does, too. 

The front door is on the latch and Frankie knocks and calls out before stepping inside. They find Chibs' Mom in the front room, still in her bathrobe and slippers. When she sees them, she shifts as if coming to life, the smile climbing to her lips at the first glimpse her son. 

Chibs kneels down by her chair to press a kiss to her cheek and when she beams at him, Juice recognises the smile instantly. 

She murmurs something to Chibs, cups his face in her hands and presses a kiss to each cheek, spends a long time just looking at him. 

Juice thinks he sees Chibs' shoulders shaking but then Frankie is tapping his elbow, gesturing back towards the kitchen and wordlessly, Juice follows.

Kitchen's a mess, dishes piled high in the sink, dried food smeared over the work surfaces, rubbish bin overflowing. 

'Jesus...' Frankie mutters, 'Never a thought I was here yesterday...' She fights free of her jacket and hangs it on the little hook on the back of the door, pulls a flowery apron on instead. 'Gimme a hand with this?' 

Juice can't really argue with her.

&&&

It's more than five years since Chibs last saw his Mam. She's shrunk in that time, gone from middle aged to an old woman. There's a resigned look to her eyes now where she'd always looked so fierce. He really shouldn't have stayed away so long.

Mam tells him he's put on weight, asks if he's sleeping. She sighs sadly at the scars on his face, like she wishes she could make it all go away. 

Asks softly who's the nice looking young man with him.

'That's JC,' Chibs tells her. 'Mate from back in the States...' Mam just looks at him.

'No sign of Fi, then?'

'No, Mam, not anymore.'

'Aye, well... Don't tell your father, eh?'

&&&

An old guy, tall but stooped wanders past the kitchen, coughing loudly into the inside of his elbow. He shuts the bathroom door behind him and the coughing gets louder, like an animal trying to choke something up. Juice nearly jumps out of his skin when the guy sneaks up on him.

'Whathefuckeryoudoininmahhoose!!!' Juice now knows where Chibs inherited his lung capacity from.

'Da! Da, it's okay.' Frankie slides her tiny body between Juice and certain death.

'This is JC, Da, he came over from America wi' Filip.' She glances up at Juice as if to say 'well do something, numpty!' and Juice holds out his hand, says something like 'good to meet you, Mister Telford,' and it just hangs in the air. Chibs' Dad stares at him like he's got two heads and then loses interest, turns and shuffles off down the hallway to the front room. 

'It's okay,' Frankie says. 'Yer alright...' She returns to the kettle. 'Help me with the tea, yeah?'

&&&

Da's still a fucking giant. Even though the man's hunched over and grey, Chibs feels like a kid of six again. He's always been a scary looking fucker but now, with his yellow eyes and red face he's like some sort of nightmare.

'Yer here then,' Da says and shuffles in to sit in his favourite chair. 'Where's ma tea? Frankie!'

'How are you, Da?'

'Fat fucking lot you care!' Old man scowls in his general direction without actually looking at him. He puts his bare feet up on the coffee table and his ankles are swollen to the size of his knees, toenails gnarled like claws. 'Come over here wi yer fuckin' bum boy, did yer? Wanna see me put in the ground...'

Here we fucking go, Chibs thinks. 

Mam tries to hold Chibs where he is, her little hand patting the back of his, saying 'hush lad' without words but Chibs isn't a kid anymore. His days of taking shit off his old man are far behind him.

'Well you've not fucking changed, have you?' 

&&&

When Juice and Frankie make their way into the room, the other three are sitting in tense silence. 

Chibs is sat beside his mother with his head in his hands, her hand patting his knee absently. 

Mr Telford is unmoving in his arm chair, his granite head held high with pride. 

Frankie hands the mugs around silently.

'Did you find my sweetener okay, Fran?' Mrs Telford's voice is one of those papery and apologetic whispers.

'Aye Mammy. I put two in, that right?' Frankie's eyes flit from her father to her brother and then to her mother like she's seen it all before. 

'That's it... JC, you come all the way from America?' Mrs Telford peers around to where Juice is hovering in the door way, beckons him into the room and he pulls a chair out from under the dining room table, sits on her other side. 

Chibs' eyes are shuttered. 

From across the room. Mr Telford snorts, says something under his breath and Chibs raises his head.

'You wanna say that to me outloud? No? Thought not...' 

Juice can see the blood rising and has no idea what to do. A hand on Chibs' arm might calm him but it'll probably provoke his father.

'What's it like there?' Mrs Telford talks over him as if he'd never said anything. 'Not like here, is it?'

'No, no it's pretty different...' Juice says, glances from Chibs to Frankie and catches her little nod of encouragement. He figures the two women spend alot of time smoothing things over.

'Warm though, eh?' Frankie adds. 'He's been all wrapped up in that hoodie since he got here.' She smiles and Mrs Telford chuckles, tells Juice to call her Jean. 

Mr. Telford is still muttering in the background and finally fed up to the teeth with it, Chibs gets up and storms outside. Juice wants to go after him but Jean's hand is firm on his arm.

'Let him have a minute, eh?'

'Yeh, let 'im go,' mutters Mr Telford, then, louder so Chibs will hear him, 'Off to fucking sulk, is he?'

Frankie rubs the headache out of her temples and says something about getting the washing on.

&&&

Juice hides out in the kitchen while Frankie coaxes her mother into having a wash, getting dressed. 

He hears a crash and a curse from the front room and rushes in to find Mr Telford on his knees on the floor, surrounded by broken glass and liquid. The guy weighs a fucking ton and Juice struggles to get him up, back into his chair. The old man just sags, mutters curses under his breath. 

The smell of whiskey is strong in the room.

'Leave that,' Telford mutters, 'Get mah money outta mah wallet an' get down the shop f'me.' The old man points across the room, Juice guesses, at his coat pocket, hanging on the back of the door.

'Whiskey? Don't you think it's a little early for that?' The words are out of Juice's mouth before he has time to stop them. Chibs' Dad stares at him for a long moment and Juice thinks he's gonna swat him. 

Then he laughs, loud and long and toothless. He slaps Juice on the back, hard and lets him get on with cleaning up. 

'Ah... Mebe we'll get Frankie t' put the kettle on again, eh?' Telford reaches for the TV remote, puts his feet back up on the coffee table so Juice can get to all the broken glass.

&&&

Chibs comes in to find Juice in the kitchen, tap running and his hand bleeding red down the sink.

'Jesus Christ...' He fetches a dish cloth, slaps it down around the lad's hand, 'What you done to yourself now, Juicy?' 

'It's okay, it's not deep...'

'How?' 

Juice shrugs one shoulder. 'Just broken glass... You okay?' 

Kid looks exhausted. He's got that hesitant look on him again, like he wants to touch but can't risk it. 

Chibs rubs a thumb over his cheekbone and then goes back to checking that the blood's stopped.

'Aye... Where's Fran?'

'She went to get Zoe from school. You've been gone most of the day...' 

'Yeah, I know. He just gets me like that, you know?' Juice looks at him like he really doesn't but he says nothing, lets him go look for his Ma. 

&&&

Juice watches his lover disappear into the other room and sighs to himself. 

Guy had smelt like a long afternoon in the bar, looked like it, too. 

Chibs has always been a drinker, all of them are to some extent but Chibs more than the rest. It's not something Juice has ever really wanted to think about. 

But here, seeing him with his family, seeing how little it takes for the man to reach for the bottle, Juice is scared. He can see how easily Chibs could turn into his father, into every other sad drunk they know. He never wants to see the other man like that.

Nursing his cut finger, he starts rummaging around in the cupboards for a Band Aid.

&&&

'Thanks for today,' Frankie says later on as she slaps a plate of sausages, mash and baked beans on the table for Zoe, sweeps one hand absently over the kid's head and gets brushed away equally absently. 

Juice just shrugs, tightens the toilet paper wrapped around his finger. 

'Here.' Frankie reaches into a cupboard, brings out a little packet, gestures for him to go sit at the table. 

The minute Zoe sees the Band Aid packet she shouts out, 'No, me, me, I wanna.' and takes her own sweet time choosing the right plaster from the assorted cartoony characters. She wraps the plaster tightly enough to cut off the circulation in Juice's finger but he hasn't the heart to say anything.

'Ben 10, eh?' Frankie winks at him. 'Very nice.' 

They sit in silence for a long time, just watching the kid stuffing her face, then Frankie gets up to wipe down the draining board, bleach the sink.

'Look, my brother and my Da... They're always like this. You don't have to worry that you should be doing something different... Besides,' she smiles briefly. 'Mam thinks you're the best thing since Donny Osmond...'

'He was drinking all afternoon,' Juice says quietly, when Zoe has asked to be excused and gone to put the TV on. Frankie just nods.

'Aye... They both were... Lip needs to cut down. He's gonna end up just like him...'

&&&

Chibs is silent in front of the TV that night. 

Works his way through a six pack like it's water and then starts in on the Bushmills. 

Juice remembers Chibs' Dad had kept a bottle of Scotch close to hand. If he had to guess, he'd say that Chibs is drinking Irish whiskey just to piss the old guy off...

He goes to bed early in disgust. 

Doesn't hear the other man come in during the night and wakes up alone. 

The airbed holds up better with only one of them in it though...

He hears squeals of laughter coming from the front room. 

Finds Chibs on the floor, playing airplanes with Zoe, complete with engine noises. He has no idea if the guy's up early or just hasn't slept yet.

In the kitchen, Frankie hands him a cup of instant coffee. She looks like she knows the answer. 

&&&

That evening, Juice goes to the pub with Chibs. Figures, guy's gonna drink himself stupid anyway, at least if he's with Juice, he might be able to distract him from getting totally fucked. 

He's wrong. 

But at least he's there to back him in the fight that starts up when someone says something Chibs doesn't like the sound of.

Juice had heard stories but now he really knows: Glasgow guys can fight. 

It's fun, in a scary as shit kind of way but Juice hasn't gotten laid in days and a fight's better than nothing, right? 

In the elevator back up to Frankie's, Chibs hits the stop button, slams Juice against the wall and presses close and the heat and weight of him is a thrill. 

He swallows Juice's moans and gropes him through his jeans and Juice just wants and then Chibs pauses, sighs and pulls away,

'I'm sorry sweetheart,' he says softly. 

Juice can see that while he's hard as anything, Chibs isn't. 

He lets the back of his head thud against the wall of the elevator, welcomes the pain. He jacks himself off, quick and dry in the locked bathroom. Loneliest fucking orgasm he's had since jail.

Finds Chibs already asleep on the airbed.

&&&

The next day, Juice is baby sitting Chibs' Dad while Chibs and Frankie ferry their Mom to the hospital for some appointment or other.

He leaves the old man dozing in his chair after his mid afternoon dram and wanders up and down the hallway and around the front room, peering at all the photographs: Chibs and Frankie in various places, at the fairground, by the sea, in someone's garden.

Juice looks at the photos and can't help but grin. He'd always suspected there were dimples hidden away under those scars... 

In his school photos, Chibs is a cheeky looking brute, his sister, angelic beside him.

'Eh, lad, get that open will yer.' Chibs' Dad points at the sideboard, waits impatiently. 'That, no, that one, yeah, give it here.' 

He points to the seat adjacent to his own chair and Juice sits, passes the book over for Mr Telford to balance on his skinny knees. 

&&&

Chibs gets his Mam back in one piece. 

Poor woman's knackered and leans heavily on his arm but he gets her in the door, coat off and into the front room. 

He finds Juicy and Da sitting cozy as you like, photo album between them.

'What's this then?'

'Cub scouts, Chibby. Really?' Juice grins like he's found out something hilarious.

'Heh! Altar boy too,' Da laughs and searches through the album. Juice lets out a whoop of delight and Chibs knows he's never gonna hear the end of this. He gets Mam into her chair, swaps her shoes for slippers and presses a kiss to her cheek. 

He needs a smoke. 

He leaves them to it, goes out into the hallway and a few minutes later, Juice is there with him.

'Hey, you okay?' Juice's eyes are still dancing but his face is getting that worried look again that always makes him feel guilty. Chibs cups his hand around the lad's neck, tucks him in close for a long, lovely moment. Juice smells of cheap shampoo, cigarette smoke and that unique Juicy scent.

'I'm sorry about last night.' 

Juice just shrugs it off, brushes clever fingers over the cut to Chibs' brow. 'Should have gotten this stitched,' he murmurs when Chibs flinches. 

He pauses like he wants to ask something. 

Chibs takes his hand, gives it a little squeeze and, because they're alone right now, he brushes a kiss over the knuckle. 

'Don't get mad but, can you do something for me?' Juice looks hesitant, like Mam always does around Da. 'Don't drink tonight.'

'Eh? What you talkin' about Juicy?'

'Just... When you're... It's like you're all off on your own and it's.... It's lonely without you...' Juice pulls away to fiddle with a tear in the wall paper, nervous frown deepening between his eyes.

'Hey, it's alright, I'm not... I'm not like that bastard-'

'I know. That's not what I'm saying.' Juice sighs, succeeds in pulling a strip of wall paper off the wall and looks panicked. Chibs takes it off him and stuffs it in his pocket. 'I'm just saying you don't need it all the time. Just come away...' 

Chibs really has no clue what the kid's on about. He's not his fucking father, never has been, never will be. 

Luckily, Frankie comes out just then, tells them to come back in, Da's not himself...

&&&

Mr Telford, Jim, as he's told Juice to call him, is a weird grey colour- he's normally pretty yellow with the jaundice from his fucked up liver. His breath comes in little pants and his eyes are wide and frightened.

'Da? Where's it hurt?' Chibs is on his knees at his father's side in a moment, one hand reaching for his pulse, the other one stroking his hand. 

The old man just presses one shaking hand to his chest.

'Alright... Alright.... Frankie, can you-' 

Frankie already has the phone in her hand, is dialling 999.

On the couch, Zoe crawls to her feet, her eyes as huge as her grandfather's.

'Get her outta here?' Chibs says softly and Juice nods, scoops her up and carries her out into the kitchen.

'Come on Munchkin, let's leave Grandad to get his breath back...' Kid wriggles around in his arms but doesn't really fight him. She lets Juice ply her with biscuits and cordial- 'squash' they call it over here, and if he lets her have more cookies, stronger cordial than she's usually allowed, no one really notices...

&&&

Da's breath comes in heavy, wheezy pants, loud enough to wake the whole floor. 

Chibs loosens his shirt collar, wipes the sweat from his face and finds it clammy.

'It's alright, Da, ambulance'll be here soon...' 

Da doesn't say anything, just reaches for and grabs his hand, clasps it tight. Chibs had forgotten what a grip the old man had.

'Mam? Mam, we better get a bag packed for him.' 

Frankie is patting their mother's cheek, bringing the woman back to herself. Mam just blinks up at her like she's never seen her before.

'Oh... Aye... He's already got one...' she points at a plastic carrier bag in the corridor by the doorway. Mam was always ever practical... 

'Right... well.' Frankie holds the bag in both hands, waits awkwardly while the ambulance techs shoulder their way in. 

Chibs has to fight his hand free when the paramedics want to load his Da onto the wheelchair to get him down to the ambulance. 

'Go with him, eh Lip?' Frankie says. 'We'll follow in my car.' 

Chibs doesn't think Frankie's piece of shit car will make the journey twice in one day but, he does as he's told. 

&&&

Juice is left to put Zoe to bed. She tries telling him she's allowed to stay up till ten, that she's allowed blackcurrant squash after she's brushed her teeth, that her Mam lets her watch Dawn of the Dead but Juice isn't that stupid. 

He reads her two stories though, since he figures she's scared stiff about her Grandad. 

And as there's no one else to overhear him, he even does the voices. 

He calls Chibs' cell phone when the kid's asleep, but it goes straight to voicemail. 

Frankie's does the same. 

&&&

They take his father in through the double doors, won't let Chibs follow and it's just like that night with Juice, being forced to watch while other people, who are smarter and better trained and more competent take someone he cares about away and all he can do is trust them not to screw it up.

He sits in the waiting room, dazed and woozy with it all until his sister and mother finally join him.

'Car packed in.' Frankie murmurs as she gets Mam sat down.

'Where'd you leave it?' 

'Out on the A-road. Have to get it in the morning... That red light kept comin' on an then it made a load a noise an'....'

'It's over heated,' he murmurs. 'Maybe there's a leak...' 

Mam's hand finds his and he hugs her close.

'Yer alright, Mam. He's with the doctors now...'

&&&

The nurses have put Mam in the relatives room. She curls up on her side in one of the narrow bunks and mumbles in her sleep. 

Chibs brushes the hair back from her forehead, amazed at all the grey in it. Her face is soft, crumpled like a well-slept bed. 

'Hey.' Frankie beckons him out and they troop through the long corridors to the outside where they can smoke.

'He's killin' her,' Chibs says softly, watching his breath rise up into the smog. 'Been killing her for years...' 

Beside him, Frankie scoffs. 

'Oh aye, an' what've you been doing to her then, eh? Kicked out the army; kicked out the IRA; grandkid she never sees... You're no better.'

Well, that's fucking ridiculous. Da's a miserable old drunk who has never held down a job and takes it all out on his wife and kids. 

'You should hear him when you're not around,' Frankie says.

'Yeah, I'll bet...'

'No, no it's not like that.' Frankie sighs, walks over to sit on the kerb, stares up at the lit windows of the hospital building. 'When you're here the two of you just war, but when it's just him...Way he talks about you... Y'know, he tells Zoe stories all the time... That time on the school roof...'

'What? I got expelled for that. Mam went up the fuckin' wall-'

'Aye, she did, but him... Those lads had been given me hell for months. You know what kids are like, once that lot started, no one'd be friends wi' me an' then you fixed it an-'

Chibs chuckles at the memory: Andrew Kirkpatrick sobbing for his Ma and pissing his pants as fifteen year old Lip Telford dragged him up three flights of stairs to the roof of the school house, dangled him over the edge by his ankles: 'Yer gonna pick on ma sister again, are yer?' Priceless!

'Fat lot a good it did me, eh?' 

Headmaster had tossed him out on his arse after that. 

Shame really, he'd been pretty good at school, liked it well enough on the days he turned up.

'Yeah... Miss Kelvin was devastated- you were the only one in her class who had a cat in hell's chance of coming out with an O'Level...' 

Chibs just snorts at the memory. Poor Miss Kelvin, fresh out of teacher training college and stuck with that class... 

Last he'd heard, she'd gone to work for a posh fee paying school with kids who didn't wear school blazers just because their parents were too poor to buy them proper winter coats.

'Da though... He was so proud... His lad, doin' that!' Frankie fiddles with a loose button on her coat, pulls it free and stashes it in her pocket. 'I was proud too... Till I realised that I was never gonna get a boyfriend 'cos everyone was so shit-scared of my big brother...'

Chibs remembers shoving his blazer in the rubbish bins and telling them all to stick it.

He remembers his Mam, sat up crying, and that he couldn't work out what her fucking problem was. 

He remembers his Da, for once saying nothing where normally the first and last words out of the old bastard's mouth started with 'useless' and ended with 'waste of space'. 

'You know,' Frankie laughs softly to herself, finds something in the gutter to worry at with the toe of her shoe. 'He remembers everything about you. Talks about every football match he took you to, every daft thing you did to upset mam or piss off the neighbours; the way the cops fucking hated you and used to blame you for everything... He doesn't remember anything about what I was like growing up...'

'Fran, he's just a mean old drunk. Gave up on his life an' just...He can't help being a bastard.'

'Aye... Me an' you, we're the only thing he ever did that was worth a damn... You getting seen off by the IRA, getting cut up an' kicked out... I thought it'd kill him.'

'Yeah, well, he's used to being ashamed of me-'

'No, no, not shame, Lip. Fear. He thought they'd kill you. Thought we'd find your body on the Strand or that you'd get disappeared an' we'd never know where you were buried...' 

Frankie grabs her brother's hand, squeezes it tight. She's got a grip on her, just like their old man. 

Her voice is suddenly fierce. 'Look, he's never gonna be what you want him to be- he is what he is. But you, you're everything that he wants you to be. Don't ever forget that.'

&&&

They're away all night. Juice waits up till after two and then he gets a text from Frankie.

#keeping Da in overnight. Stayin 2. U take Z 2 school in morn?# 

He sleeps in Zoe's tiny bed rather than messing around with the stupid air bed. 

He can hear the foxes screaming to each other all night and when he dreams, they're back in the club house and there are zombies trying to get in and Chibs is sleeping and Juice can't wake him...

Zoe wakes him up, crashing around in the kitchen, trying to reach the breakfast cereal she's not allowed on week days. 

She throws a tantrum when he tells her 'no' and he has to take a deep breath, put on his sternest voice to remind her that she needs to be good and grown up while her Grandad's sick. 

The little girl kind of sags, her eyes suddenly wet and she curls herself up in his lap. She tells him that when Roy had babies, Granda had drowned them.

He brushes her hair for her. Braids it like he used to do for his sister. 

He gets several looks from the mothers on the gate when he walks Zoe to school- most funny and one appreciative.

When he gets back, Frankie's in the kitchen, tea and a smoke on hand. She sighs and gives up a wan smile when she sees him.

'Angina,' she says. 'Another thing to add to the list...They're gonna keep him in. Lip's gone to bed...'

&&&

Juice pads back down the corridor to the bedroom, finds the curtains drawn and Chibs lying in Zoe's bed. God knows how he fits when it's little more than five feet long. 

The guy is curled up on his side, pink duvet pulled up around his ears. 

Juice doesn't give it a second thought, he just pulls off his boots and jeans, slides in behind him and wraps his arm around the other man's middle. 

Chibs is drenched in sweat, shivering all the same. 

Huh?

Juice sits up, checks his forehead, it's not hot. Just alcohol withdrawal then... 

Jesus...

&&&

It's a long time since Chibs last felt this shitty. He thinks the last time might actually have been when he woke up in hospital after getting caught out by that car bomb. 

He remembers his Da used to get like this when he ran out of booze and had already spent the giro and the money in Mam's handbag.

He remembers looking at his Da, sweating and shivering in his armchair and hating the bastard, swearing he'd never grow up like him. 

And of course, here he fucking is, pathetic and sad and dreaming of drink. 

Then, there are arms around him and warm breath on the back of his neck and it's so beautiful he thinks he might fucking cry. 

It's daft, if this were a normal day, he'd be half cut by now and he'd just accept Juice's arms around him like it was nothing, not pay it any mind. 

But now, sober as misery and as limp as you like, it feels like something sacred. He's warm and secure and loved. 

Right now he thinks he might kill to keep this feeling. 

&&&

Juice wakes up as the sun slides around behind the curtains, just peeking in through the gap underneath. 

Chibs is slumped on his back beside him, bleary eyed and clearly wishing for a smoke, or a drink...

Juice expects him to get up, go in search of one or both but instead, Chibs presses an absent minded kiss to Juice's forehead, goes back to watching the window, one arm tightening around Juice's shoulders, holding him in place.

'You know, you did real good last night,' Juice says softly and Chibs looks at him, confused. 

'Your dad an'...' 

Chibs just shrugs it off. 'Nah... Fucking angina... Jesus! Can't wait to get old....'

'You're not him,' Juice says. 'There's things that're similar but... you don't have to get like that.' 

Chibs sighs, rubs his hand over his tired eyes.

'Jesus, this fucking bed...' 

He shifts, kicks one foot free of the duvet and straightens his leg so it sticks out the bottom of the bed. 

'Time is it?' 

'Uh...' 

As if on cue, the front door slams and locks: Frankie off to collect Zoe from school.

Juice grins up at his lover.

'Think we've got time to-'

'Not in my niece's bed,' Chibs says, pushing Juice out and while the younger man gets out of his clothes, Chibs goes in search of the sleeping bag they've been using as a duvet on the airbed.

Juice's hands are inside his shorts before he's even got the sleeping bag unrolled, lips seeking his.

Chibs slides himself down onto the floor, rolls them over so Juice is beneath him, pauses for a moment to just look at him. 

He's so fucking gorgeous like this. 

Not pretty, not girly- no one's ever going to try getting Juice in drag or confuse him with a chick- but he is beautiful in his way. 

Juice frowns, wonders why they're stopping.

'I got morning breath?'

'Yeah,' Chibs grins, the kid is hilariously self conscious about it. 

Juice stiffens, makes to go and brush his teeth but Chibs pulls him back and Juicy surges up against him, arms curling around his neck, legs around his hips. 

It's like getting off with an octopus sometimes and Chibs fucking loves it.

He gets Juicy's arms and legs untangled, works his way down to where the younger man's erection is digging him in the hip. 

He has developed some very fond feelings for Juicy's cock, which he keeps shaved clean. It rises to greet him and he slides his lips over the tip, gives a little slurp, just to hear Juicy's breath hitch. 

He knows that if he looks up, the other man will be covering his own face with his hands, trying to muffle his moans. If they were surrounded by strangers, Chibs'd see what he could do about getting the lad to let go and yell the place down but since his sister's got to live with these neighbours, discretion is key.

He ducks his head down to lick at Juice's balls, shifting the lad's legs up and out of the way over his shoulders, lets himself be coaxed back up when Juice reaches for him.

They fuck face to face. Chibs keeping Juice quiet by fusing their mouths together and Juice's breath hitches like he's going to cry and his eyes never leave Chibs'. 

 

Juice wants to get a hand around his cock but Chibs has his hands pinned above his head with one of his own. 

Bastard. 

He feels Chibs slide one hand up under his back, use it to pull him closer, the breath sighing between them. 

Juice fights his hands free and cups Chibs face in them so he won't look away, sees that the older man's eyes are as wet as his are. 

He bats against his forehead with his own, says the words first so Chibs won't have to. 

Chibs doesn't say anything, he just nods, one tear working it's way free, and keeps rocking into him. 

It's perfect. It's him and Chibs and the world can just fuck off. 

Him and Chibs and they fucking love each other- too much to even say- and he's laughing and crying and coming and it's too much and not enough and it's over all too soon. 

Chibs follows him a few seconds later, gasping and sighing against Juice's lips as his own orgasm lifts the two of them both and slams them back down again.

They don't separate, just fidget and settle, rubbing noses and trading breath. Juice chuckles and presses kisses all over his face, sucking up the tears so Chibs can pretend they were never there. 

&&&

They're up and showered and dressed when Frankie gets back with Zoe in tow. Juice snags a couple of aspirins from the cupboard, hands them to Chibs, silent and insistent. Chibs rolls his eyes, knocks them back dry.

Frankie glances from one to the other, raises a suspicious eyebrow at their innocent expressions but says nothing about it, just reminds them that her car is still stranded on the central reservation out on the main road. 

Chibs groans in remembrance, gets to his feet.

'Radiator,' he says to Juice. 'Probably got a leak.' 

'Oh, great...' 

'Have to take Da's car out there, give it a tow back here to look at it...' 

'You gonna be back though, visiting time's at five...' Frankie calls after them but they're already half way out the door.

&&&

In the airport, Zoe is jumping up and down, pulling on Juice's hand and generally being a brat. Chibs kneels down to pull her to face him, cups her face in his hands.

'Hey, come on now, hen, behave for yer Mam, yeah?' 

Jean Telford is in her best coat and shoes for the occasion. She complained about her bunions the whole car ride over. 

She gives Juice a fierce hug and tells him to make sure he comes back soon, stuffs a bag of boiled sweets into his jacket pocket for the journey. 

Juice can't really think what to say. It hasn't been an easy few days but it feels sort of like things are alot better for everyone than before they got there. Like things are settled. 

'Jim'll want to see you again,' Jean says. 'He likes a bit of sunshine from time to time...'

Juice thinks back to the sight of Telford Senior sat up in his hospital bed that morning, stuffing his face with the grapes Zoe had brought him and making smutty comments about the nurses. 

The nurses had been dismissive of the old guy, knew he was killing himself and there was no point trying to help. Worse, they'd been stupidly kind to Jean and Frankie, even to Chibs: a sure sign that there would be worse to come.

He thinks back to the way the old man had gripped his hand and shaken it hard, the way he'd clasped his son to him, looked long and hard like he was memorising his face. 

Frankie turns to him shyly, gives up a hug of her own and she's tiny and sparrowlike in his arms, whispers a thank you for all he's done. Then, she glances around, sees that her brother is talking to their mother and uses the chance to grip Juice's arms hard.

'Don't you let go of him, yeh hear?' Her face is fierce as anything. 'You keep him right, you know? Fi couldn't do it, but he listens to you.' 

Juice blinks, hugs her again just because he has no idea what to say.

Now that it's time to go, Zoe is bashful again and she skips from one foot to the other, won't hug Juice goodbye. 

She changes her mind just as the last boarding announcement comes over the tannoy and she's hot and squirming against his chest, plants a sloppy kiss on his cheek. 

When Juice sneaks a look at him, Chibs is smiling, ear to ear but his eyes are wet. He snakes an arm around the taller man's neck and tugs him close for a second before they head through the gate. 

Chibs casts one final glance back at his family and then he slides his sunglasses back over his eyes: business as usual. 

'Next time we come back this way, we're hiring bikes,' he grins down at Juice. 'Go up into the highlands...'

'The highlands, huh? Where men are men and the sheep are nervous...' 

Juice has to duck and run to avoid a cuff upside the head, kicks Chibs in the ankle and takes off up the slope to the plane before the older man can grab him.

He buckles in and prepares himself for another long, shitty flight with no leg room.

**Author's Note:**

> Come Away by Ani Difranco
> 
> next to the glass ashtray  
> in a little plastic baggy  
> is a bitter rock remedy  
> really good stuff  
> but i take offense to the fact  
> that you're so hell bent  
> you try to tell me this world  
> just isn't beautiful enough?
> 
> do you wanna get off  
> is this your stop  
> do you gotta have a triple decker super fudge sundae  
> with a goddam cherry on top
> 
> i mean, what makes you so lavish that you can afford  
> to spend every sober moment feeling angry and bored
> 
> why won't you come  
> come away from  
> come away from it  
> why
> 
> why won't you come  
> come away from
> 
> we used to hold hands down  
> those unfamiliar streets  
> you used to take me diving  
> into the watery blue deep  
> but now you're trying to find every tiny treasure  
> every shiny penny of pleasure  
> satisfy every selfish purpose  
> before you swim back up to the surface
> 
> why won't you come  
> come away from  
> come away from it
> 
> why won't you come  
> come away from  
> come away from it  
> why
> 
> and you think that i just don't like it anymore  
> but i'll tell you what i don't like  
> i don't like that i have to put the training wheels back on your bike  
> and i don't like the extravagance  
> or the way you taste when i kiss you  
> i don't like being left alone  
> baby don't you think i miss you
> 
> why won't you come  
> come away from  
> come away from it  
> why


End file.
